A Digital Twin for Models, Actors and Influencers: What Stays With You

A digital twin is a dataset of photos from which an AI system can generate new images of you: different clothing, different setting, different pose, same face. For fashion brands this is everyday practice. Zalando reported in 2025 that around 70 percent of its editorial images are AI-generated. For you as a model, actor or creator the question is a different one: is it worth it, and on what terms?

First question: who owns the twin?

This is where the offers differ. With some providers the twin is created at the agency or platform, and the rights to the trained models stay there. With others the dataset stays with you, and every use is a separate licence. In 2025 H&M chose the second route: the rights to the twin remain with the model, and payment is per use. That is the benchmark against which you should measure every offer.

At FaceLedger there is no twin that someone else owns. Your photo dataset stays yours. A company receives it only after a licence agreement is concluded and only for its term. Afterwards it must delete the dataset and confirm that.

Second question: buy-out or licence?

A buy-out transfers your likeness once and for everything. In May 2025 several outlets reported, based on AFP research, on actors who had sold their face outright and later found themselves in scam ads and propaganda videos. No withdrawal, no say, no share. A campaign licence, by contrast, permits one specific use: this brand, this campaign, this period, these channels. Everything else stays with you.

Third question: what may be changed?

AI advertising depends on generating pose, clothing, styling and setting. That has to be allowed, otherwise the licence makes no sense. What must not be allowed is anything that changes your identity: a different face, a different age, a different body, or a context you have excluded. At FaceLedger you block up to 25 industries entirely, erotic and pornographic content is excluded for everyone, and your legal name does not appear in the advertising.

Fourth question: what about AI training?

Many contracts do not distinguish between use for a campaign and use for training general AI models. That is a big difference. Training for the campaign is needed so the images can be created, and it ends with the campaign. General training turns your face into a component of a model it never leaves again. FaceLedger permits only the first. The second is prohibited by contract, as are facial recognition, biometric databases and any transfer to third parties.

When a twin pays off for you

For models it pays off because campaigns happen without travel and without a shoot day, and every licence is a reference for the portfolio. For actors it pays off for advertising that runs alongside theatre and film, without scheduling conflicts. For influencers it pays off because a company licenses the likeness, not the channels; the reach stays with you. In all three cases: 65 percent of the licence price goes to you, with a minimum of 900 euros net per licence, and you see the amount before you accept.

When you should say no

If the contract has no end date. If the provider keeps the rights to the trained models. If you do not learn in advance which brand wants to use you for what. If erotic content is not expressly excluded. And if you cannot withdraw your consent. At FaceLedger you can withdraw at any time; no new licences are then created and the dataset is deleted. Running campaigns may use their material until the end of the term, and your fee remains yours.

Protection and income are not opposites

The best defence against misuse is not keeping your face off the market. It is already there, in every public photo. The best defence is setting the rules yourself: identity verified, every use documented, every licence verifiable on a public verification page. Whoever licenses their face holds a contract. Whoever does not, in case of doubt, holds only a cease-and-desist letter.